Bath Combination under-20s made a mockery of their underdog tag to inflict a deserved 35-3 victory over their much-fancied Bristol counterparts at The Rec on Sunday.

A hat-trick of tries from Trowbridge wing James Davies and a brace from University of Bath centre Will Allen, plus five conversions from full-back Oli Cave, secured the spoils for the home side.

Bristol arrived having lost only once to Bath in the teams’ previous eight meetings but were some way short of their best.

The visitors’ performance was littered with uncharacteristic errors, while Bath grew in confidence as the game wore on and punished Bristol's mistakes with ruthless efficiency.

Bath’s half-back combination of scrum-half Marcus Adams (Keynsham) and stand-off Cam Roberts (University of Bath) proved to be too much for their opponents. The talented stand-off oozed class from the outset, and was the game's stand-out performer.

Bristol pack held the upper hand in the opening exchanges. They huffed and puffed, but the smaller Bath pack of was able to keep them at bay, as a result of quick ball from the breakdowns were able to provide their gifted back-line with a steady stream of possession.

The visitors only had a sixth-minute penalty by Ashley Groves (Old Reds) to show for their efforts.

There was no shortage of effort from Bristol but all-too often their attacks were brought to a shuddering halt by poor decision-making. Loose kicks and dropped passes meant Bristol contributed to their own downfall.

That said, Bath were worthy winners and it could be argued that the Bristol's malfunctions were a direct consequence of the pressure heaped on them by the home side.

Bristol found themselves 21-3 adrift at the interval – Will Allen and Davies (2) crossing for tries, with University of Bath’s Cave adding the extras.

Bristol showed promise at the start of the second-half but were undone when Davies raced 80-metres to complete his hat-trick.

Bath then had the final world when Will Allen coasted in for his second try which, was again converted to put the result beyond doubt.

Bath coach Dave Cobb said: "We're delighted with our performance today. We've been second-best on numerous occasions, but I thought we deserved to win today. Bristol made a lot of mistakes, and we took full advantage of them - we battled away up front and we had the edge in the backs."

Bristol's Cherry Hall said: "It just didn't go for us today. We tried our best, but it was one of those days when everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. But having said that, Bath deserved to win.

“Our winning run had to end some time, and now that it has, we'll work hard to ensure we come back stronger next time."

The Bath Combination would like to extend its gratitude to referee Chris Newton and touch judges Simon Priestly and Paul Eke, Bath Rugby for allowing the game to be played on The Rec, all of the the team coaches and match physio and, finally, to all clubs for allowing their players to participate and for providing their training facilities.